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Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story
Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story is the fourth entry in the Disney's Animated Storybook point-and-click adventure interactive storybook PC game series, based on theatrical and home video releases. The game was developed by a computer game development subsidiary of Pixar Animation Studios that existed at the time, and published by Disney Interactive. The game is based on Pixar's 1995 film, Toy Story, which was the first feature-length computer-animated film. It was released on April 24, 1996. It is the only Animated Storybook title to be based on a Pixar (and, by extension, fully computer-animated) film. Gameplay The game is an abridged retelling of the Toy Story film, with various plot elements of the film changed. The story is narrated in-game by Hamm the Piggy Bank (voiced by John Ratzenberger). The game allows players to read and play along with the story, or just have Hamm read the story to them. When playing along with the story, players can click on various hotspots to trigger animations or sound effects. Additionally, some "pages" of the story feature optional minigames, such as a minigame involving matching different colored Squeeze Toy Aliens in the Pizza Planet claw game to matching colored backpacks. Much of the voice cast from the film reprised their roles for the game, although lead characters Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear were instead voiced by Jim Hanks (Tom Hanks's brother) and Pat Fraley, respectively. Development The game was developed by Pixar subsidiary The Interactive Products Group instead of series developer Media Station. With a staff of 95, the subsidiary created Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story and Toy Story Activity Center in 1996 under intense time pressure, to meet the VHS release date for Toy Story. Between the two products, the group had created as much original animation as there was in Toy Story itself. While Steve Jobs thought the games would sell 10 million copies on par with the sales figures of successful direct-to-video releases, Pixar employee Pam Kerwin thought the games would be financially successful but not a runaway hit like the film as the market hadn't reached that scale. At the time, Pixar wanted to continue work on Toy Story 2, but the entire studio only had 300 people: 200 working on A Bug's Life and 100 at the new The Interactive Products Group division for interactive media. Therefore, Jobs made the decision to shut down the computer games operation and the staff became the initial core of the Toy Story 2 production team. Commercial performance On May 13, 1996, PR Newswire reported that in the three weeks since the release of Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story, the game had sold more than 100,000 copies at retail. Revenues from Toy Story were included in Pixar's second quarter financial report. Critical reception Entertainment Weekly gave the game an A rating, commenting that Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story contained "all the familiar scenes" from the movie it was based on, albeit augmented by entertaining point-and-click activities. The site also praised the animation, noting "the sequences in Animated Storybook (which so closely mirror those in the film) have an immediate, you-are-there quality", in comparison to other video game adaptions of movies which "present scenes from the original flick in a truncated, non-interactive manner that can be mildly off-putting for both kids and adults". WorldVillage gave Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story the ratings of: Ease of Use – 5, Learning Value – 3, Entertainment Value – 4, Graphics – 5, and Sound – 3. It added that the game is "indeed a work of art". AllGame gave Toy Story a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars. The Washington Post said the absence of the flim's two main stars "does not diminish the enjoyment" of the game. The Buffalo News said the game "captures the spirit and humor of the film". The Record thought the game had "first-rate production values". Robertson Stephens analyst Keith Benjamin said "This is the most compelling CD-ROM title I have ever seen". The Mirror said the game was "brilliant". MacWorld praised the game for its visual similarity to the film it was adapted from, commenting that "the 3-D imaging is superb". | rev1 = Entertainment Weekly | rev1Score = A }} References Category:1996 video games Category:Toy Story video games Category:Disney video games Category:Mac OS games Category:Video games based on Pixar films Category:Point-and-click adventure games Category:Disney Interactive Category:Video games developed in the United States Category:Windows games